Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • Language ESQ - Smith (Leon Garfield) PDF

    Uploaded by

    adoptmehacks trade
    577 views3 pages
    The passage describes the character of Smith through vivid language. It establishes that Smith is extremely quick and nimble, able to "nip down an alley or vanish in a court" with "neatness". Smith is also compared to being quicker than a rat or snail, establishing his speed and stealth. The language depicts Smith as enjoying taunting his victims by leaning and grinning as he watches chaos unfold, implying he is mischievous. Overall, the passage uses vivid language to characterize Smith as a sly, speedy pickpocket who navigates the "violent and ramshackle" town with ease.

    Original Description:

    Original Title

    1. Language ESQ - Smith (Leon Garfield).pdf

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document
    The passage describes the character of Smith through vivid language. It establishes that Smith is extremely quick and nimble, able to "nip down an alley or vanish in a court" with "neatness". Smith is also compared to being quicker than a rat or snail, establishing his speed and stealth. The language depicts Smith as enjoying taunting his victims by leaning and grinning as he watches chaos unfold, implying he is mischievous. Overall, the passage uses vivid language to characterize Smith as a sly, speedy pickpocket who navigates the "violent and ramshackle" town with ease.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf or txt
    577 views3 pages

    Language ESQ - Smith (Leon Garfield) PDF

    Uploaded by

    adoptmehacks trade
    The passage describes the character of Smith through vivid language. It establishes that Smith is extremely quick and nimble, able to "nip down an alley or vanish in a court" with "neatness". Smith is also compared to being quicker than a rat or snail, establishing his speed and stealth. The language depicts Smith as enjoying taunting his victims by leaning and grinning as he watches chaos unfold, implying he is mischievous. Overall, the passage uses vivid language to characterize Smith as a sly, speedy pickpocket who navigates the "violent and ramshackle" town with ease.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    Name

    ENGLISH: Comprehension [Section A]

    Focus: Language Analysis (Q2)

    Exam Practice 1

    Read the following passage from Leon Garfield’s “Smith”.

    CHAPTER 1

    He was called Smith and was twelve years old. Which, in itself, was a marvel; for it seemed
    as if the smallpox, the consumption, brain-fever, and gaol-fever and even the hangman’s rope
    had given him a wide berth for fear of catching something. Or else they weren’t quick
    enough. Smith had a turn of speed that was remarkable, and a neatness in nipping down an
    alley or vanishing in a court that had to be seen to be believed. Not that it was often seen, for
    Smith was rather a sooty spirit of the violent and ramshackle Town, and inhabited the
    tumbledown mazes about fat St Paul’s like the subtle air itself. A rat was like a snail beside
    Smith, and the most his thousand victims ever got of him was the powerful whiff of his
    passing and a cold draught in their dexterously emptied pockets.

    Only the sanctimonious birds that perched on the church’s dome ever saw Smith’s progress
    entire, and as their beady eyes followed him, they chattered savagely, ‘Pick-pocket! Pick-
    pocket! Jug him! Jug- jug- jug him!’ as if they’d been appointed by the Town to save it from
    such as Smith. His favourite spot was Ludgate Hill, where the world’s coaches, chairs and
    curricles were met and locked, from morning to night, in horrible confusion. And here, in one
    or other of the ancient doorways, he leaned and grinned while the shouting and cursing and
    scraping and raging went endlessly, hopelessly on – till, sooner or later, something
    prosperous would come his way.

    At about half past ten of a cold December morning an old gentlemen got furiously out of his
    carriage, in which he’d been trapped for an hour, shook his red fist at his helpless coachman
    and the roaring but motionless world, and began to stump up Ludgate Hill. ‘Pick-pocket!
    Pick- pocket!’ shrieked the cathedral birds in a fury.

    Section A | Language (Q2) | Exam Practice 1 | Smith 11+ English | J. Potter


    How does the writer use language to describe the character(s) in the following examples,
    taken from the text? [8 marks]
    Success criteria for a Language Analysis response:
    - State which language technique is being used (although not essential)
    - Write about more than one word or phrase from each example.
    - Identify word classes e.g. adjective, verb phrase, adverb.
    - Delve deeply into what words may imply or suggest.
    - Stay focused on language.
    - Answer the question: how does the language describe the character?

    a) a neatness in nipping down an alley

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    b) a rat was like a snail beside Smith

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    _____________________________________________________________

    Section A | Language (Q2) | Exam Practice 1 | Smith 11+ English | J. Potter


    c) he leaned and grinned while the shouting and cursing and scraping and raging went
    endlessly, hopelessly on

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    d) a sooty spirit of the violent and ramshackle Town

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    ______________________________________________________________

    Section A | Language (Q2) | Exam Practice 1 | Smith 11+ English | J. Potter

    You might also like